Zoom in on any section of a Howard Sherman painting, and you'll find combinations of abstract and figurative elements -- and sometimes text.

Zoom in on any section of a Howard Sherman painting, and you'll find combinations of abstract and figurative elements -- and sometimes text.

Photo: Douglas Britt

Artist Howard Sherman finds acceptance and success in Houston

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Drop by Houston artist Howard Sherman's studio, or his solo exhibition at McMurtrey Gallery, and you may end up sticking around longer than you intended.

That's because the longer you look at Sherman's splashy paintings - which combine turbulent brushwork, offbeat color combinations, cartoonlike draftsmanship and the occasional naughty doodle - the more looking there is to do.

One of Sherman's paintings graces the cover of Dancing With Ataxia, a new book by Houston poet Erica Lehrer, whose work draws inspiration from her struggle with spinocerebellar ataxia, a neurological disorder associated with poor coordination of hands, speech and eye movements.

Lehrer met Sherman last year when both were doing residencies at the Vermont Studio Center.

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"He is very serious and immensely articulate about art, and yet he has a great inventiveness and sense of fun pervading his work while simultaneously delving into slightly sinister elements," Lehrer says. "I try to achieve this in my poetry."

Even during the economic doldrums of the past few years, Sherman has been part of a rare breed - a working artist who has the luxury of painting full time without having to subsidize his career by teaching or finding other ways to pay the bills. His first museum exhibition, Eating Your Friction, opened in 2008 at the Art Museum of Southeast Texas in Beaumont, which acquired one of the works for its collection. The Galveston Arts Center presented a modified version of the show last year.

A native Houstonian, Sherman credits his success to several factors: the discipline his former career drawing a daily comic strip - with its never-ending deadlines - ingrained in him; the deepening of his artistic practice during his stint at the University of North Texas at Denton, where he earned a master's degree in 2006; and his decision to return to the Bayou City after graduation.

"Throughout the great recession that we're anemically climbing out of, this has probably been one of the best spots you can be in, not just in the United States, but around the world," Sherman says. "Doing this full time is still difficult, but I've gotten a lot of support here that I don't think I would have gotten elsewhere. This has always been a great city for anyone to come to - whether they're an artist or a businessman - to make things happen, with very low barriers to entry."

In Sherman's latest solo effort - at McMurtrey through Oct. 15 - visitors see more overt figurative references mixed into his trademark blend of explosiveness and humor, along with palette shifts informed by his recent discovery of a line of iridescent acrylics.

Sherman's spirit of experimentation fits right in with what he describes as an increasingly confident art scene.

"Houston stopped caring about what anyone else thought," he said. "Not that it ever really mattered in the first place, but Houston's very comfortable in its own skin. "